Blogs

I’ve been published for 6 years now through various small presses with varying degrees of success but this year when my current publisher decided enough was enough and pulled the plug; AmazonKDP and Kobo platforms were the logical step. I think there is still a stigma about e-books and self-publishing in general; Kobo and Amazon regarded as last-saloon options, the rung above the vanity press, but what swayed me was the KDP event held in Dublin...

My apologies for a delay to the Picks of the Week. January’s already launching me curve balls but I’m fairly light on my feet and will continue to dodge them imperviously. Wishing you all a year full of beautiful things: unexpected laughter, notebooks full of first drafts, birds writing liberty across the sky, a rainbow in a teacup. Two sharp, bold pieces for you this week: Poem of the Week goes to Noo. There’s far more to grief than the Kubler-...

Strictly speaking, Advent began this year on Sunday 27 th November 2016. For us however, it really began on the previous Friday 25th November, when me and OH set off to the Civil Service Club in London for the Old Gits Christmas lunch. Nowadays I do my best to avoid travelling into town most of the time, as my shortness of stature tends to make getting on and off trains very difficult and dangerous, as the array of footwear to be found on the...

Gibbous House Launch Party Gibbous House's Launch Party takes place between 18.30 and 20.00 in London on the 12th January 2017 . Any ABCTalers in London, or its environs, who would care to celebrate the publication of one of their own, please contact me via the mail option on here and I'll get back to you with specific details. It would never have happened without ABCTales, to whom I am eternally grateful. https://www.abctales.com/user/ewan

Just to keep you all up to date. We are in the process of the great handover to our wonderful bunch of members who will be running this site in the future. Getting all the bank and legal stuff sorted out takes a bit of time but hopefully it will be completed by the end of January. Then they will need your support - financial and otherwise - but for the moment, fear not, we are carrying on as normal! Cheers to you all, Tony

Many thanks to Mark Say for taking the time to pick his favourite story and poem from December - and a Happy New Year to all! Here we go with the picks of the month. Poem - Have You Seen My Sister? by Jane Hyphen https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/have-you-seen-my-sister An entertaining and moving combination of whimsy, clever alliteration and a sense of having lost a treasured relationship. It conveys a reflection on someone close who...

Celtic were expected to win the last Old Firm clash of 2016 and they did, scoring two goals to Rangers one. But it wasn’t quite as easy as the last few meetings in which Celtic dominated from start to finish. Here Rangers scored first. We all know the rules. If the diddy team is going to win they must score first and their keeper must play brilliantly. Tick. Tick. Things go awry with the Tic. Wes Fotheringham has been brilliant for Rangers...

Such a horrible year for losses, not least among them two of our own lovely and very talented ABCtalers - Julia (overthetop1) and Deb (Bee). So I will light a candle to them both tonight with gratitude for all they did for our community. And then onto 2017 which I very much hope will be a good deal better than this one. Happy New Year to you all! xx

I recently watched a film by Andrew Haigh on DVD, 45 Years . It came with the usual plaudits, but was in an ugly word: boring. 45 Years never felt so long. Elena Ferrante The Days of Abandonment is, I guess, all the things 45 Years was trying to be, without sticking its tongue out in the form of a short novel and saying: Fuck You. The plot is very similar, a woman coming to terms with loss of the things she thought she knew and held true. In...

Congratulations to accidentallyexisting and philwhiteland. And have a go at some serious or frivolous prophecy with the IP. https://www.abctales.com/story/accidentallyexisting/tim-timpany-poetry-monthly https://www.abctales.com/story/philwhiteland/brightest-and-best-sons-mourning https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip